Love the Fund? Fund the Fund.

Councilmembers, you sayyou support $100 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund, will you now fundit?

This winter, members of the DC Council expressed their support for $100 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund in public forums across the District.

Councilmembers Bonds, Bowser, Evans, Graham, and Wells stood in support of CNHED’s housing priorities at the Housing For All NOW Rally on February 1, 2014. The event stressed the importance of $100 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund.

At CNHED’s Ward 8 Housing Town Hall when asked directly if they supported $100 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund, Councilmembers Bonds and Bowser stated an unqualified “Yes!”

Legislation was even introduced:

“The HPTF [Housing Production Trust Fund] should be funded annually at a minimum of $100 million so the Department of Housing and Community Development may increase and expand its efforts to create and preserve affordable housing across the District” – Written by Bowser, co-introduced by Graham, Cheh, Orange, Bonds[1]

“Develop a ten-year $1,000,000,000 affordable housing plan that provides for $100,000,000 per annum to increase, build, and modernize affordable housing in the District of Columbia” – Written by Orange, co-introduced by Bonds, Barry, Graham and sponsored by Bowser, Cheh, and Wells.[2]

And yet, no member of the Council has committed any additional funds to invest in the Housing Production Trust Fund, and it is still $29.4 million short of your stated goal.

Now is the time for the Council to make good on your commitment to the Housing Production Trust Fund. The budget proposed by Mayor Gray is $29.4 million short of $100 million. The Council must act for the Housing Production Trust Fund to receive the funding it needs in Fiscal Year 2015.

Housing for All Blog is a project of the Housing For All Campaign. We believe all District residents deserve decent, quality housing at a price they can afford, and call on District officials to create a full Continuum of Housing that will meet that need.